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Agence France-Presse

Russia on Monday ordered more evacuations in a region bordering Ukraine as it battled to contain an unprecedented push onto its territory by Kyiv forces.
Ukraine last week sent troops into Russia’s border region of Kursk, in the largest cross-border operation by Kyiv since Moscow launched its offensive more than two years ago.
The assault, which has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing, marked the most significant attack by a foreign army on Russian territory since World War II.
A top Ukrainian official said that the operation was aimed at stretching Moscow troops and destabilising the country after months of slow Russian advances across the frontline.
The assault appeared to catch the Kremlin off guard, with Moscow’s army rushing in reserve troops, tanks, aviation, artillery and drones in a bid to quash it.
Despite the efforts, the army on Sunday conceded that Ukraine had been able to penetrate its territory by up to 30km (20 miles) in places.

In a daily briefing on the situation in the western Kursk region, the defence ministry said it had “foiled attempts” by Ukraine’s forces to “break through deep into Russian territory” using armoured vehicles.
But it said some of those forces were near the villages of Tolpino and Obshchy Kolodez, some 25km and 30km from the Russia-Ukraine border.
A Ukrainian security official said on condition of anonymity that “the aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border”.
The Ukrainian official also said Russian claims that Kyiv had deployed 1,000 troops were a serious underestimate.
“It is a lot more,” he said. “Thousands.”
On Monday, Russia ordered fresh evacuations in the region, moving people from the neighbouring region of Belgorod.
“The enemy is active on the border of the Krasnoyaruzhsky district,” Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
“For the health and security of our population, we’re beginning to move people who live in Krasnoyaruzhsky to safer places”.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that its air defence systems had destroyed 18 Ukrainian drones – including 11 over the Kursk region.


In response to the offensive, China, a close political and economic ally of Russia, on Monday urged all parties to follow “three principles for de-escalating the situation”.
Those are “no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting and no fuelling the flame by any party”, a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
“China will continue to maintain communication with the international community and play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis.”
On Sunday, each country blamed the other for a fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, though both sides – and the UN’s nuclear watchdog – said there was no sign of a nuclear leak.
“No impact has been reported for nuclear safety,” said a statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has experts at the site. Both Kyiv and Moscow said there had been no rise in radiation levels.
In a later statement, the IAEA said it had requested that its team get “immediate access to the cooling tower to assess the damage”.
A Moscow-installed official, Vladimir Rogov, said the blaze has been “completely extinguished” in a Telegram post on Monday.




Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has waged an unrelenting campaign, occupying swathes of the east and south and subjecting Ukrainian cities to daily missile and drone attacks.
After recapturing large areas in 2022, Kyiv has largely been on the back foot, struggling with manpower and arms supplies.
Russia said on Saturday that more than 76,000 civilians had been evacuated from border areas, with more leaving on Sunday.
Russia’s rail operator has put on emergency trains from Kursk to Moscow, around 450km away, for those looking to flee.
“It’s scary to have helicopters flying over your head all the time,” said Marina, refusing to give her surname, who arrived by train in the Russian capital on Sunday. “When it was possible to leave, I left.”
Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirnov conceded on Sunday that the situation was “difficult”.

Across the border in Ukraine’s Sumy region, from where Ukraine launched the incursion, AFP journalists on Sunday saw dozens of armoured vehicles daubed with a white triangle – the insignia apparently being used to identify Ukrainian military hardware deployed in the attack.
At an evacuation centre in the regional capital of Sumy, 70-year-old retired metal worker Mykola, who had fled his village of Khotyn some 10km from the Russian border, nevertheless welcomed Ukraine’s push into Russia.
“Let’s let them find out what it’s like,” he said. “They don’t understand what war is. Let them have a taste of it.”
Analysts think Kyiv may have launched the assault to try to relieve pressure on its troops in other parts of the sprawling front line.
But the Ukrainian official said: “Their pressure in the east continues, they are not pulling back troops from the area,” even if “the intensity of Russian attacks has gone down a little bit”.
The Ukrainian official said he expected Russia would “in the end” manage to stop the incursion.
Ukraine was bracing for retaliation with a large-scale missile attack, including “on decision-making centres” in Ukraine, the official added.


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Ukraine war

Russia admits battling deep Ukraine incursion into Kursk region

Ukrainian servicemen drive tanks in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on August 11. Photo: AFP

A Russian drone attack on Ukrainian armoured vehicles in Kursk. Photo: AFP/Russian defence ministry

People in Kursk gather at a residential building damaged after shelling by the Ukrainian side. Photo: AP

Russia, Ukraine trade blame over fire at cooling tower of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine. A fire broke out on Sunday at one of the plant’s cooling towers. Photo: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: Ukraine Presidency/dpa

Russians flee for Moscow amid Ukraine border attack: ‘it has to be stopped’

Russian Emergency Situations Ministry personnel help evacuees from the Kursk region, as they arrive at a railway station in Oryol on Friday. Photo: Russian Emergency Situations Ministry via AFP

A photo released on Friday shows women and children being evacuated from the town of Rylsk in Russia’s Kursk region. Photo: Government of Kursk region via AFP 

A Russian Su-25 aircraft fires rockets on Ukrainian forces at the Kursk border region of Russia. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry via AFP

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World

Russia & Central Asia

The Russian army acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had penetrated its territory by up to 30km in some places


The Russian army acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had penetrated its territory by up to 30km in some places.


Ukraine

Russia

War and conflict

Russia admits battling deep Ukraine incursion into Kursk region

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The Russian army acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had penetrated its territory by up to 30km in some places

The Russian army acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had penetrated its territory by up to 30km in some places